


Grieving

by Icechild



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman and Robin (Comics), Nightwing (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Robin (Comics), Under the Red Hood
Genre: Batfamily Feels, Crying, Dick Grayson Needs a Hug, Everyone Needs A Hug, Grieving, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, brother bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-04
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-04-07 22:33:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19094401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Icechild/pseuds/Icechild
Summary: The Robins and Alfred all cope with Bruce's death in different ways. They show their love the way the family knows how, all of them interacting with each other, even Bruce, with and without the other one's knowledge.





	1. Chapter 1

None of them wanted to believe it. Bruce couldn't possibly be gone.  He was always there for all of them. Ever since the beginning. The man was Batman for god’s sake. He couldn’t just die. He just couldn’t. He couldn’t leave his kids all alone. He couldn’t leave a hole in the suit, a hole in Gotham, a hole in all of their lives. All of them had different ways of coping with the loss. 

Alfred cleaned everything and looked over all of the boys that were left. He had raised Bruce, his loss was killing the older man on the inside. He looked after all of his other charges, it was killing him further to see them all like this. He idly made some sandwiches and grabbed some water bottles and began making his rounds around the house. He would take care of these boys in Bruce’s stead. He would take care of them, even if they wouldn’t take care of themselves. 

His first place to look was in the gym. Damian had thrown himself into his training after his father’s passing. He hardly left the room. He was working hard to try to prove himself to his brother’s and, in a way, prove himself to his father. The boy didn’t show it well but he was hurting. He was trying to ensure that he did better in the future, anything he could think of to try to make his father proud even though he was no longer with them. 

Alfred left some of the food and a water bottle by the door in the hopes that Damian would eat it and take a break at some point. At the rate he was going the young boy was going to collapse from exhaustion. 

The next stop was down in the Batcave. Tim had also thrown himself into his work but he was working on every single case he could get his hands on. He hadn’t been sleeping well and every time he had a nightmare he wound up back on the computer trying to solve cases that even Bruce had been struggling with earlier. Alfred walked over carefully to him and lightly cleared his throat. Tim didn’t look away from the computer but he did slightly tilt his head to show he was listening. These boys were all so much like him without even realizing it. 

“You should eat something.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Maybe not at the moment, however I will leave these here for you when you decide that you are.”

He knew it was pointless to try to force him to eat. None of them were handling it well. So he sat down the food and a water and began scanning the cave for the other boy he thought he might find down there. 

“Where is Master Jason?”

“Out.”

As if on cue tires could be heard screeching into the cave as the Red Hood’s bike slid to a stop and he angrily got off. He seemed okay, wet from the incoming storm if anything. When the red helmet was removed the anger on the boys face was easy to see. He may be a fully grown man but he will always be a boy to Alfred. Grandfather’s prerogative. He opened his mouth to try to get him to eat but Jason just stormed passed them and up to the manor. He seemed to be full of hate and anger these days but Alfred could tell that there was more to it than just that. He just didn’t know what. 

The last child he was going to go check was perhaps the one that broke his heart the most. He was the one most affected by Bruce’s passing and it was easy to see why. He was the oldest of the boys, he had been raised by Bruce when he had no where else to go. He knew exactly where he would find Dick. Pulling on a jacket and grabbing a blanket he walked out the back doors and across the yard to the Wayne Cemetery. He saw the boy curled up with his head resting against the headstone that belonged to his adoptive father. Dick was already asleep his tear tracks down his cheeks and Alfred felt his heart break once again. The storm was going to hit Gotham but not the manor itself, so instead of waking him from what appeared to be his first good sleep in a while he simply draped the blanket around the boy and returned inside. They would make it through this. They just had to. 


	2. Jason

Jason didn’t know what to do with himself. He had moved back to the manor not too long ago. Was trying to fix things with the people that he called his brothers and maybe, maybe somewhere down that line he’d be able to fix things with Bruce too. But now? Now Bruce is dead. He’s dead and there’s nothing that’s going to bring him back to life. Bruce is dead so now there’s no one that Jason can blame, no one that he can run to and feel safe despite all the odds. He’s lost his dad again. Yes, his dad. He may not have always admitted to it but Bruce was his dad, and now that he’s gone, Jason doesn’t know what to do. He feels like he’s back in the streets looking for scraps of hope that he knows will never come. He feels the rage and hurt pooling in his chest at being left behind again, and knowing that if someone had taken out these criminals before then maybe Bruce would still be here. 

He wasn’t sure what to do with himself. He was angry, upset, hurting, and he wanted it to stop. He knew that one of the worst things you could do was going out on patrol while you’re upset, but he wanted an escape for the pain and rage. He knew his brothers were all hurting too. He knew that they needed to stick together if they wanted to make it through this and he knew Alfred was hurting too. He knew he should be checking up on his family, trying to hold strong. They all knew loss, they all knew this kind of pain.  The difference was when it was there for the first time they had Bruce. They always had Bruce to keep them safe and pick them back up, but now it’s Bruce who’s gone. 

He walked by the gym and saw Damian training. He watched him beat a training dummy before going in for a kill strike and stopping. He stopped and shook and Jason watched him crumple to his knees as tears ran down his face. The brother in him wanted to help, but the rational part of him knew Damian needed his privacy to grieve. If he knew someone had seen him cry he’d lock himself up. So he kept walking.

He kept walking the whole way down into the Batcave and he changed into the Red Hood uniform. He heard the tap tap of keys and went to ask Tim what cases needed grunt work. He froze the second he saw what was on the screen. The pictures and reports from the mission that slaughtered Batman. He was watching the video clip of Bruce’s ship exploding over and over with the volume on mute. He was staring glassy eyed at the screen, long since cried out and lost in his own head. He needed to process, Jason couldn’t do that for him. Instead he made his way over to the glass cases that held the suits. He looked them all over but instead of looking at the Robin suit like usual he instead walked slowly over to Batman uniform. 

He looked over the cape, the armor, the bat emblem that splayed across the chest. He held his calm until he looked to the cowl and he could imagine his father’s face in it. Normally he would have imagined a scowl on his face. That’s what he got in the past few years after all. Not this time. No, this time the face he saw was the proud smile that Bruce had given him after his very first night as Robin. The night that he had exclaimed just over at the computer that was now playing death on loop, he had happily yelled that it was the best night of his life. 

He closed his eyes against the memories that now flooded his mind and willed away the tears that threatened to show themselves.

He looked over at the batcomputer’s screen again and he remembered the rage he held before. He knew that Batman could operate and solve almost anything. They knew there was something wrong even without hearing the audio in the video. Batman’s ship wasn’t moving the way it should have been. He knows the audio that was playing, he knows what happened. He knew the story. 

Bruce had been on patrol here in Gotham before the JLA alert had come in. He had been wounded by thugs. No name criminals, while he was trying to save innocents. He didn’t have time to be treated before the alert came. He had gone right there in order to help. To save as many as he could like the hero that he is. Was. He left and they never got to see him again. Because Bruce would save  everyone he could, protect everyone, but not himself, and because of that his family is lost in the dark because Robin may have been Batman’s light but he never really realized that Batman was Robin’s. He never realized that Batman to a Robin meant that everything was going to be okay. Now he’s gone. 

Jason looked back up at the cowl with a scowl on his face, had it not been for the tears welled in his eyes he would have looked nothing but furious. When he spoke his voice was quiet but strong. It shook with emotion, rage and sadness swirling in every word he spoke. 

“Why?” 

He waited for a response he knew would never come and he punched the glass not hard enough to break, but enough for it to shake where it stood. 

“Why did you leave? You always leave. You couldn’t have just stayed around long enough for me to say I’m sorry?" He remembered cuddling into Bruce's side when he was sick. "Why’d you let them take you from us?" He remembered playing catch with him in the front yard. "Didn’t you know we need you?" He remembered Bruce and him eating chocolate cake and Bruce wiping icing off his nose. "You just had to be a hero, huh, old man?" He remembered the night he beat Joker with the crowbar, the night he told Bruce what would happen if their roles had been switched on the day Jason had died. "I’ll make them pay.”

With his hands clenched into tight fists and the pain in his heart burning and making it hard to breathe, he got onto his bike. Pulling on his Red Helmet he took off into Gotham’s night. The criminals would look hell in the eye tonight, he’d make sure of it. 

* * *

Hours later, with the storm rumbling in the distance and rain beginning to patter to the ground around him, Jason decided to go back home. He grabbed onto his bike and began to go to the manor. It was fine until he heard a scream. Taking off into the alley he found three men ganging up against a lone woman. He glared in disgust and stepped forward loudly while clearing his throat. 

“Three against one isn’t fair. You guys might want to call in some backup.”

“Who are you?”

“Really? I’m wearing a red hood, in Gotham, who do you think I am?”

“Oh. Heh, you’re one of the Bat’s freaks.”

At that point another one pitched in.

“Don’t you mean he was?”

All he saw was red. The only ones who knew Batman was dead right now were the good ones. No one in the criminal underground knew. Not unless they were there. 

In seconds Jason had the lead thug of the little group pressed up against the wall with his arm digging into the man’s throat. He hadn’t even noticed as the woman who had been being attacked ran out of the alley. He didn’t care. All he cared about was the fact that these people took his dad away from him. He hadn’t been lying with what he told Bruce all that time ago. He was going to send them off to hell. He grabbed his gun and he pressed it to the side of the man’s head and practically growled. 

“Say hey to the devil for me.”

He pulled the trigger, but it didn’t feel good enough. He wanted them to be in pain. To suffer, for what they did. So he turned to the other two and they stared at the man they knew was about to be the death of them. 

By the time he was finished the storm had caught up to him. He left their bodies and moved to his bike. He’d done it. He was out of people to blame again. He got onto his bike and he drove back to the cave. He couldn’t stop himself from thinking about all of the good times he’d had with Bruce. He couldn’t stop thinking about how much he missed the man. By the time he returned to the cave he didn’t trust himself to be near anyone else. He didn’t want them to see the pain, didn’t want them to see him like this. So he stormed passed Alfred. He felt bad but he knew the older man would understand. He made his way up to his room and he looked out the window. His window that overlooked the graveyard. He saw Dick. He saw his brother, his idol, although he’d never admit to that. He watched Alfred cover him with a blanket and somehow, deep down under all the pain, he knew they’d be okay. Maybe not now, but eventually. 


	3. Dick

Dick wandered around the manor like a ghost. Everywhere he went he was assaulted by memories of Bruce. He’d called this place home since he was 8 years old and the man who made it feel like that was gone. Bruce had taken him in when he had nothing and he hadn’t been there to help when the man had needed him. He wanted to prove himself, to spread his wings away from his dad but without Bruce being there he didn’t know what to do with himself. 

It felt like his emotions were swallowing him whole. He’d felt like this before, after all Bruce isn’t the first parent he’s ever lost. When he felt like this the first time he had gone to Bruce, told him everything and Bruce always made him feel better. Who would have thought he’d be doing that even after Bruce was gone. 

He haunted the halls and watched his brothers and he wanted to help them, he did. The issue was that if he couldn’t get his own head on straight then how was he supposed to help his little brothers. He wandered his way outside and made the well known path to the Wayne graveyard. 

The sun was setting on the horizon and wild flowers sprouted up on the edge of the woods that lined the tombs. He sat down facing Bruce’s headstone and laid down a few of the flowers he had picked on his way there. He let the wind wash over him and took a deep breath, breathing in the smells of grass and and air. The hints of pollution that wafted over from the main city and the hints of rain from the storm they all knew was coming. He listened to the wind whistle through the trees, the rustle of the leaves, the birds chirping in the woods, the silence. 

He let his breath out and read the headstone in front of him for what felt like the hundredth time. 

“Bruce Thomas Wayne, Loving Father, Friend, and Hero” Dick felt the heat in his cheeks and the tightness in his chest and throat while tears welled up in his blue eyes. He spoke soft, the sorrow clear in his voice.

“Hey Bruce.”

He wiped his face and tried to stop crying. It didn’t work.

“Everything’s really quiet without you. Timmy’s throwing himself into his work. Dami’s been training nonstop. Jason won’t admit to it but he’s missing you too. We all miss you.”

He paused and let the wind whistle through again. He watched the dying sun rays speckle the grass and rocks that surrounded him. He looked across the yard and could see the place where he and Bruce had had an impromptu snowball fight after school and work. He could see the trees he climbed growing up. See the door that Bruce would use to get him and his brothers to come inside for dinner. Turning back to the headstone he continued.

“Why’d you leave? Why’d you let them get you? The League could have done it without you, they would have understood. You were already hurt you didn’t need to go. You broke your promise.”

The sky had turned from blue to red, orange, yellow, and pink. There was purple edging in on the light. Like the cold hand of death coming to take away the warm breath of life. 

“You promised. You know that right? You promised you’d never leave me. You promised that we’d be together forever. That you’d always be here for me. That I wouldn’t need to worry because you’d always be here to pick me back up but you’re not!”

He hadn’t realized the anger that had been bubbling under the edges. He hadn’t realized he started yelling or that the tears were still rolling down his face.  

“You promised and now you’re gone! You got yourself killed because you were too stubborn to get help! To call one of us! You could have called…” 

The anger died as the last rays of sun slipped behind the trees. 

“Why didn’t you call?... You know I would have come to help you. I’ve always come to help you. I don’t know what to do. I’m not ready to be the oldest. I’m not ready to do this.” 

He laughed a little and closed his eyes. 

“I know, I know I was always the oldest brother, but you were always there to help me. With you gone someone has to raise Damian. Someone has to be Batman. Damian’s too young, Tim is too small. Jason would never do it. So that leaves it to me. Because I have to protect them and the city needs Batman but I’m scared. I never wanted this role.”

He listened as crickets replaced the sounds of birds and the warm breeze began to turn chilled. 

“I miss you. I miss your hugs. I miss the sound of your voice after I have a nightmare. I miss the smile you’d give when you thought no one was looking while you watched one of us fly around or take down a bad guy or just having fun playing in the yard. Hell I even miss the glares you gave when I made too many puns on patrol.”

He looked up at the city lights glowing in the distance and lighting up the sky. 

“Sometimes I wish I could just go back. Go back to being nine years old and dressed in red, green, and yellow, and flying at your hip. Back to the times that it was smiles and fun and simple. And God I love my little brother’s but I miss the days that it was just me, you, and Alfred. The nights that it wasn’t worth it to go to bed before we had to get up again so we just ate cookies and milk in the kitchen. I want you back.”

His voice shattered at the same time he fell into helpless sobs. He curled himself up next to the headstone and let the tears drip down onto the flower petals. 

“You were my hero, you were my friend. You were my dad...I want my dad back…”

His sobs were drowned in the howling of the wind. The rustle of the leaves and the grass. The storm over Gotham looked like the city was weeping with him. Mourning and grieving over the loss of her hero. The flowers bent and their bright colors turned melancholy in the light and atmosphere. 

The wind that had been cold turned warm once again and coiled around him and he felt like laughing even though it made him cry harder. Because it would be just like Bruce to still find a way to comfort his kids even after he was dead. It was the first time he felt safe and calm since Bruce had been called by the League. 

He cried himself to sleep that night, curled around the headstone of his father with tear stains down his face. He didn’t look comfortable but he was. He was with his dad and that meant it was safe. After all the safest place for a Robin is at Batman’s side. He was tired enough to not hear Alfred come up to him and lay a blanket over his shoulders. It was the first night he slept through since Bruce had passed. In the morning the breeze was light and soft and warm. The birds were chirping in the pale blue of the sky as the pinks of sunrise were fading away. The flowers were regaining their pigment and the sun looked bright again. He adjusted the blanket around him and stood up to stretch. The world would keep going, but Bruce wasn’t gone. He lived on in all of his kids, in their memories, and in their hearts. He helped so many people, now it was Dick’s turn to continue that legacy. He was going to get his brothers, get Alfred, and they were going to be okay. He’d make sure they were okay. That’s what family does. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys like this, I wrote it a while ago and found it in my documents and I decided to post it. I know it's a little rough but let me know what you think!


	4. Justice League

It wasn't every day you buried a friend. It wasn't like the League were strangers to death. Far from it, they just always assumed that he was unbeatable. It was easy to forget with all of the things Batman did that he was only human. That he bled just as easily as the civilians he saved. That his life could be lost in the blink of an eye.

Clark knew when he had called that something was wrong. He knew that it had been a relatively busy night in Gotham but all of the major criminals were back in their cells and they needed their main strategist. No, looking back on it they didn't really need him, they wanted him though. Clark had been the one to call him in because they were the closest on the League. He knew the tense note in Bruce's voice meant that something was wrong but he had agreed so he hadn't thought anything of it. He just shrugged it off because asking Bruce if something was wrong was sure to get him glared at. Trying to tell him to stay behind on a mission was a minefield. So Clark had ignored it, and now his best friend was dead.

Diana had always looked up to Bruce. Had always respected him for his noble acts. A human who decided to take his pain and forge it into something to protect others. He was a roll model for everyone on the League. She had helped him with injuries in the past and had known from Clark's small hesitation that Bruce wasn't totally alright. She had known, but she did nothing. She thought if Bruce was still coming and Clark was letting him that it wasn't anything major to worry about. She had gone into battle with all of her friends and come out of it with one less at her side.

The League all knew that Batman was impressive. All of them knew that he could operate under any circumstance and he could run anything he chose to. They all knew that he was incredibly smart. They all knew that he could do the impossible. It was why many of the league members had suspicions that he wasn't really a human and just said that so that they would be confused or even more scared of the things that he could potentially do. Batman ran everything. Sure, Superman was the face of the League, the one who did all of the public stuff and did it all with a smile. Batman, he was the real power of the Justice League. He was the one who led from the shadows. He made almost all of their plans. He was the one who built the back up plans in case something went wrong. He had a plan or a gadget for everything. And if he didn't then he made one. Batman was the most reliable of the whole League.

When Clark and Diana had come back, one League member short, the room froze. Every other member looked at them and their defeated faces. Flash moved up to them and no one missed the note of fear in his voice.

"Where's Bats?" Wally didn't want to hear bad news. He was best friends with Dick, had been for basically their whole hero careers. He didn't want to be the one to tell him he'd lost another parent.

"Flash..he's..."

"You're lying. He's going to come popping out of the shadows any minute now right? He's just trying to scare us."

No one spoke. No one wanted to tell him it wasn't going to happen because they would all rather have that happen than face the truth. Bruce was their friend.

"Guys come on." Wally didn't want to have this be real.

His parents had abused him. After that he had lived with his uncle and then Barry had died too. Bruce had practically adopted him with how often he and Dick were together. Losing Bruce was like losing Barry again.

"He's Batman he can't be dead."

"Wally.."

The note of sadness that washed into Diana's voice made him pause. Tears welled up in his green eyes and he hung his head.

"Has anyone told Nightwing? Has anyone called anyone?"

"Not yet. We're the only one's who know."

"What happened?" John stepped forward and watched Wally. They were close, he knew what the Bat meant to him.

"We don't really know," Clark admitted "he was flying his ship and then it started to malfunction. He was losing control, it, it exploded."

"Bat's doesn't lose control over anything." Wally was going to get to the bottom of this. He wasn't going to sit around and do nothing. He wasn't going to just accept loss.

"He didn't, we're going to look into it Wally, for now...for now we have to tell his family."

* * *

 

The doors to the manor opened and Alfred saw the looks on both of their faces. He knew what had happened. He had been told of a loved one's passing too many times to not recognize the expression they both wore. Clark didn't waste a second before hugged the older man and Diana stepped into the hall to see Damian coming to see who was at the door. He paused when he saw them.

"Does father need us for something?" Damian was curious. Bruce generally told them things himself, he didn't send others because there could be a miscommunication.

Diana walked over to him and knelt down to his eye level. "Damian, your father he-" She had to pause. Take a breath. How do you tell a child that their parent is dead? "Bruce was a great man."

Damian gave her a confused look. "Don't you mean he _is_ a great man?"

Clark released Alfred from his hold and Alfred went to the boy. "Pennyworth what is the meaning of this?"

"Damian, what she is trying to say is that something happened and I'm afraid your father isn't coming home again."

"You're wrong. You're wrong he has to come home. Where is he?"

"Damian." Clark stepped forward. If the boy lashed out he was best equipped to survive. "Bruce is dead."

Silence fell over the manor while Damian took in those words. He nodded to them and clenched his jaw, it was the same thing Bruce did when he was feeling too many emotions to express. "I see. Thank you for informing us. If you need me I'll be in the gym."

He turned to leave and the all took a deep breath.

"I'll tell Jason and Tim." Alfred looked at them. "Has anyone informed Richard?"

"Wally is on his way to Bludhaven right now."

* * *

Wally knocked on the door to Dick's apartment. He was in casual clothes and he knew Dick would figure it out the minute he saw Wally's face. They were like that, didn't have to talk to each other. When the door opened Wally knew he was right. Dick immediately pulled him inside and locked the door. 

"Who?" Dick was scared, serious and scared and ready to comfort his friend.

Wally opened his mouth to speak but he couldn't. He knew how much Dick hurts from his parents. He knew how much Bruce meant to Dick, how was he supposed to do this?

"Dick maybe you should sit down?" He saw the flash in Dick's eyes and saw his fear increase, damn Dick for being a detective. He knows it's close to home.

"Wally, who?"

"Dick, I...I don't know how to tell you this-"

"Wally please just stop sugar coating and tell me who it is!"

"Bruce is dead."

The world stopped. Froze and Dick just stared at him. Emotions running through his face and tears springing into them. He saw the shake in Dick's knees and moved forward to grab him before he hit the ground. Wally didn't speak. He just held onto Dick and rubbed his hand up and down his back. Held him while Dick shook in his arms and he felt his shoulder get soaked by tears through the shirt. He didn't care. He just wanted to help Dick as best he could.

"Tell me you're lying."

"I wish to god that I were."

They stayed like that for ten more minutes before Dick looked up sharply.

"Wally who else knows? Has anyone told Alfred? Jason, Tim? Oh god has anyone told Damian?"

"Dick calm down. Clark and Diana are over there right now. They know."

"I have to go home."

"Do you want help packing?"

"I think I want to be alone."

Wally simply nodded and left Dick to his solitude. He ran down the street and turned into a deserted alleyway. Punching the bricks until his knuckles were bleeding and he screamed at the sky. This wasn't fair. The world needed Bruce they couldn't just take him away like that.

Dick sat on the floor of his living room and moved to the bookshelf. He picked up an old picture frame that had been facedown from when it fell over and he never bothered to pick it back up. A picture of him and Bruce a year ago at a charity gala. Both of them in tuxes and smiling and laughing for real. It wasn't the fake smiles or the fake laughs they gave the guests. They were laughing and smiling because Dick had just compared an old woman's hair to a mop and called her mop woman. Alfred had taken the shot when they weren't looking and Dick felt his throat close up knowing moments like this would never happen again. He packed his bags and headed back to Gotham.

* * *

 

On the Watchtower the League members who were left pulled up files the Dark Knight had left for them. They each went to their own rooms and watched the video files that were attached. Bruce had a connection with each and every one of them. They were the founders. They had been through thick and thin with each other. Bruce left them each a message telling them exactly what they needed to do in case he died. At first they thought it was all business. The Bat always had a plan, even a plan for his death. Then the videos became more personal. Telling them that he was sorry he wasn't able to help them anymore. Telling them that they would move on and that he wanted them to continue to be heroes for him. That he would be proud of all of them and that he wanted the League to grow. A small bird had shown him that family was everything, the League was each other's family. They wouldn't let him down. They would grow the League into the biggest family the world had ever seen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This wasn't proof read so I really hope there aren't too many errors in it. I hope you enjoyed!


	5. Return

It had been a month. A month without Bruce. A month without Batman on the watchtower. The league was carrying on with their business as best they could. They were looking for new members, trying to uphold Bruce's wishes. They had offered a position to Gotham's new Bat, to Dick. He declined. Right now his priority was to his family and Gotham. He would help the league if they really needed him but he wasn't going to be a full member just yet. They fully understood. In Gotham things never really calmed down. There were breakouts left and right and the city never really realized they had lost their first Knight. Dick did a startlingly good impression. As far as the world was concerned Nightwing was off doing his own thing. It wasn't that uncommon for people to say that it wasn't true.

As for Bruce Wayne, they had the headstone. They had had the funeral with the empty casket, but they hadn't told anyone. The funeral was for leaguers and family only. A place where they could all grieve in peace. No one in the family was ready to deal with the onslaught of publicity that would happen from Bruce's death so they just hadn't said anything yet. Even after a month. The public just thought that Bruce was on some extended vacation.

The family was slowly healing. Alfred helped the boys with everything they needed. Damian came out of the gym and slowly regained his usual routine, this time with his oldest brother as his Batman rather than his father. Tim pulled himself away from hero work and delved back into Wayne Enterprises. Jason did, well, what he'd always done. He watched over Gotham's criminal side and made sure that lines were not crossed. In the daytime he spent time with his family. It was a life is short thing, they all knew they could die. They knew it because Bruce had told them but Bruce himself always seemed to be invincible. With him gone it made them see just how real the threat was. Dick still went to the grave every night after patrol. Still told Bruce everything that happened that day and asked for advice. He'd laugh at stories from his siblings and would end up crying for his father. Jason even went out with him some nights. Went out and held his brother while they both reminisced about the good times. Sometimes they would all go out, if only for the purpose of dragging Dick back inside before they all cuddled with each other and fell asleep.

It had been a month.

The watchtower was silent. Normally on quiet nights like this Wally would be making jokes to lighten the mood. No one felt like joking. It was a perfect month since they had lost Batman. Since they lost Bruce. Since the earth lost the person who quite honestly might have been her best defender. They were all lounging together in the main area. Watching out the large windows to see the earth spin around like nothing was wrong. To see the stars twinkling like diamonds. Then there was a bright light. Not from outside but from in. Right in the middle of the room. The light was blinding and sucking air, swirling the room into chaos before a thud of something dark hit the ground and it vanished. They all blinked before they could see what had fallen from the light. _Who_ had fallen from the light.

Batman stood up from the crouch he had landed in. Stood and looked at them and their awe struck expressions. Clark was very careful in his step forward.

"Batman?..."

He was scared to hope. They all were. Bruce meant a lot to all of them. This could simply be a different one. Their Bruce could still be dead.

"Superman. How long have I been gone?"

"Prove that you're our Batman."

"The last thing I remember is being on the mission with you and Diana. There was a device attached to my ship that wasn't meant to be there. It was shorting out the comm systems and frying my controls. When the ship exploded that device sent me to a different universe. It took time but I was able to repair the device to bring me back. I don't know if time flowed at the same rate so how long was I gone?"

He was met with silence. Met with people staring at him in shock because this was him. This was their Batman. He wasn't dead! Clark grabbed him in a hug before everyone did. They didn't want to lose him again. They were so happy. Once the hug was finished Bruce raised an eyebrow at the people he called friends.

"Does someone want to fill me in on what I missed?"

"You've been gone about a month. We all thought you were dead in the explosion."

They were all thinking themselves silly for thinking Batman could be taken out that easily. Clark was the only one who saw the man grow worried.

"What's wrong?"

"You thought I was dead."

"I mean, I know we maybe overreacted but what were we supposed-"

"Did you tell anyone?"

"No the public doesn't know but.."

Clark finally made the realization. So did everyone else. His family.

At the funeral they'd seen the way his robins had clustered together. Seen how they all stayed with the older man that was so much more than a butler. They'd seen the youngest hold onto the oldest. Seen the middle birds give each other reassuring squeezes every few minutes. They knew the Bat way of dealing with feelings. They knew Bruce collected orphans. They knew the boys had all lost their father.

"Where are they."

It wasn't a question. It was a demand.

"They're in Gotham."

Bruce didn't waste a single second getting to the zeta beams.

* * *

When he got there the cave was empty. It was the middle of the day so that wasn't too surprising, but it still sent waves of worry through him that he couldn't find his sons. He didn't know what had happened in the month. Very quickly he changed out of his suit and ran up the stairs into the manor. The sun glittered through the windows and bounced off the chandeliers in the hallway. He ran fast towards the sounds and smell of the kitchen where he found all but one of his family. He didn't know what to say. Then Tim turned around with a plate in his hands and dropped it. Jason, Alfred, and Damian all flinched at the sound and turned to look at him before following his gaze. The room was perfectly still.

"Jason?..." Tim's voice was quiet, worried, and scared while he asked his brother. Almost like he was asking for hope or confirmation.

"I see him too."

Alfred just looked him over. It was Damian who stepped forward first. A hesitant word on his lips to be spoken in one of the softest, most scared tones anyone had heard from the boy.

"Father?.."

Bruce breathed. He stepped into the kitchen nodded before he found his voice.

"It's me. I'm back, I'm here."

Damian ran. Threw himself into Bruce's arms and held him. It was uncharacteristically emotional but it felt appropriate. Tim was after and joined the hug with his little brother. After they let go Alfred stepped up and gave Bruce a strong hug.

"Welcome home son."

It felt right to have Alfred call him son. The man had raised him. The boys had their father back, but Alfred, he was getting his child back. When Alfred stepped back the room fell still as Jason and Bruce looked each other over. Bruce was surprised when Jason latched himself in for a hug. Burying his face into Bruce's shoulder like he had done when he was young, before the crowbar. Bruce could feel his shoulder's shaking and held his wayward bird closer.

"I never got to tell you I was sorry."

"I forgave you a long time ago Jaybird."

That was it. That was all that needed to be said. Bruce held them all and looked at them each again before noting that his eldest had yet to come down to the kitchen.

"Where's Dick?"

Damian opened his mouth to answer when the front door swung open. They could all hear Dick putting his stuff down and heading towards the kitchen where he knew his family would be.

"Guys you would not believe the so called emergency Babs just had. She called me in to-"

Dick had made it to the doorway. He saw Bruce. Saw the extra face that was standing there. Saw his family all huddled around.

"Maybe my concussion is worse than I thought it was..."

No one spoke other than that. Bruce just stepped towards him and Dick didn't stop the tears from springing up. He'd seen the streaks on his brother's faces to, even Alfred's.

"Are...are you real?.."

"I'm real Dickie. I came back."

In the next second Bruce had his arms full of crying acrobat. Tears of joy instead of tears of sadness. Bruce held him close while Dick burrowed as close as he possibly could in Bruce's arms.

"Please never leave me again."

"I wont. I promised you didn't I?"

Tears and laughter poured out of him. They all hugged and talked about what happened. The family was back. Thing's were going to be okay. They didn't patrol that night, instead they stayed in and watched movies until they all fell asleep in a pile. The night after that Batman had all of his birds flying next to him. They would be alright.

After all, the safest place for a Robin to be, was at Batman's side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This wasn't beta read. So I'm sorry for any and all mistakes that are in this. Happy Father's Day everybody! Have some wholesome for the sad fic. Let me know what you think!


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